A Steakhouse With Vintage Vibes Prepares to Open on the Las Vegas Strip

Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse, the new steakhouse opening at the Flamingo with a vintage look, speakeasy entrance, and homage to the mobsters who opened the resort in 1946, now plans to start taking reservations on July 2. Parent company Caesars Entertainment named the restaurant for Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and his business partner Meyer Lansky, who opened the Flamingo, the first resort-style hotel on the Strip.

The resort closed its seven-year-old Center Cut Steakhouse back in September and the expanded 11,242-square-foot Bugsy & Meyer’s takes over the former steakhouse footprint, as well as the Café To Go and Laurel Lounge spaces across from the Flamingo Wildlife Habitat main entrance.

Chicago chef Lamar Moore won the Food Network competition series Vegas Chef Prizefight to become the head chef at the restaurant. Moore worked at Currency Exchange Cafe, The Smoke Daddy, and The Swill Inn in Chicago before landing in Las Vegas. He told Eater Chicago that he had the menu ready to go back in April, but then he had to wait for the restaurant to change its opening date after the Flamingo was allowed to reopen. Bugsy & Meyer’s planned to open May or June. Moore joins executive chef, Honorio Mecinas, who brings with him more than 15 years of Las Vegas Strip experience.

Some of Moore’s touches on the menu include at bit of Southern flair, including the possibility of his fried chicken that won him the job on the show. The steakhouse dry ages its beef for 60 days in a glass-encased cooler while a raw bar showcases seafood options.

The menu in the main dining room includes a mix of classic dishes, table-side service, and dry-aged steaks, such as a 60-day Chicago cut bone-in rib-eye. The raw bar brings a roster of seafood dishes include towers, crudo, poke, and tataki. Other teased entrees include short ribs, lamb saddle, and steak Diane, and desserts such as a baked Alaska, mille-feuille with bourbon mousseline, and strawberries Romanoff.

The bar features rum cocktails and a table-side Old Fashioned cart, while The Count Room inside brings a speakeasy bar with its own cocktail and food menus and vintage images from the Flamingo’s early days.

Diners enter the restaurant through a bakery façade to find a centerpiece bar and lounge, three private dining rooms, an ornate dining room, and a hidden speakeasy dubbed The Count Room. Studio K Creative out of Chicago and designer Jonathan Adler created the vintage look of the restaurant. Bugsy & Meyer’s partnered with She Hit Pause art consultants in New York City to create a specialty curated art collection, which includes a custom beaded flamingo piece created by Adler that took nearly 100 hours to make.

Diners can place advance reservations online.

Gov. Steve Sisolak closed casinos on March 17 to curb the spread of COVID-19. The Nevada Gaming Control Board issued guidelines to resorts to reopen that include maintaining 50 percent capacity, masks on staff, cleaning protocols, and social distancing throughout the casino. Casinos were permitted to reopen across the state on June 4.

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